BUILD Pizzeria Roma: build it, and they will come

By Emma Krasov, photography by Yuri Krasov

 

Roman-style pizza, made with Caputo flour, and baked in 800-degree oven, imported from Italy, gotta be the shortest of all the roads that lead to Rome. This thin-crust artful pie, topped with the freshest farm-to-table ingredients, that might include seasonal truffles, porcinis, or Calabrese peppers, is definitely outstanding, even in gourmet-pizza-heavy Bay Area.

 

The newly opened BUILD Pizzeria Roma in downtown Berkeley lures in sophisticated pizza lovers with its sleek modern decor, exquisite libations, curated by expert consultants, and an invitation to some creative pizza-building, not usually available to restaurant patrons.

 

There is a busy Building Department lead by Executive Chef Brian Langevin on the pizzeria side of the restaurant, where anyone can pick and choose among the cheeses, proteins, veggies, and “indulgences” to build their own individual pies. Pizza foundations are provided as rosso (tomatoes, olive oil, oregano, mozzarella, sea salt; bianca (sans tomatoes); pesto (with basil pesto and Parmigiano-Reggiano), and gluten-free (with tomato or pesto). Then the fun part begins with choosing toppings, that range from truffle pecorino cheese and prosciutto di Parma to roasted pine nuts and caper barriers.  

For the timid, there is an impressive list of house recipes, like Tartufo on bianca foundation with mozzarella, topped with roasted mushrooms, and finished with baby arugula, truffle pecorino, and truffle oil, or Mediterranean on rosso, with goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, eggplant, artichoke hearts, and Italian olives.

On the bar side of the restaurant, bartender Calum Wright mixes mean cocktails that can be served straight up or over single hand-cut slow-melting reusable ice cube.

Here Chef de cuisine Clara Yun creates an enticing menu of bar bites that include seasonal delights like burrata garnished with oven-roasted Roma tomatoes, olive oil, balsamic, and crostini, or truffle arancini made of truffle risotto, smoked mozzarella, and house-made tomato sauce. 

Chef Yun is also responsible for the scrumptious desserts. Among them budino – a house-made butterscotch, sea-salt and mascarpone cream, and crostata di frutta with seasonal fruit are finger-licking good.

 

 Chef Clara Yun (left) and Lisa Holt (right)

The restaurant’s early success and its growing popularity come as a result of experience, skill, and passion of its founders – Napa Valley hospitality entrepreneurs Lisa Holt and David Shapiro, and the highly talented staff they hired to create a place where dreams and wishes come true. You dream of Roma? Spending an evening here is like being there – the mood is warm, friendly, hospitable, and people who sit at neighboring tables easily engage in conversations. You wish your pizza were a little milder, stronger, heavier or lighter on meat, cheese, or veggies? Having exactly what you wish is in your hands.  

Come build your own unforgettable pizza, and then come for more – that’s what all of BUILD Pizzeria Roma’s fast friends are doing.

 

BUILD Pizzeria Roma is located at 2286 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, California. Call for reservations (510) 898-1839 or visit www.BUILDpizzeria.com.

New La Crema Pinot Gris Greets Summertime

By Emma Krasov, photography by Yuri Krasov

 

A bottle of La Crema 2012 Monterey Pinot Gris bears a tag, saying, “This bottle is perfect for the beach, or a lawn chair under the sprinklers.” We can think of at least a dozen more situations when this clean and refreshing wine with soft sweet notes can be used to anyone’s delight.

 

La Crema, a reputable Northern California winery with a long history of successful engagement with the cool-climate coastal appellations, is based in the town of Windsor in the Russian River Valley. The grapes for La Crema’s signature Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are coming mostly from Mendocino and Los Carneros –the lands often visited by wind and fog that allow the fruit ripen slowly, developing intense and complex flavors.  

 

Winemaker Elizabeth Grant-Douglas is seeking to express the essence of the terroir in La Crema wines, and capture the unique personality and flavor profile of the vineyards. She combines the traditional Burgundian winemaking techniques with a contemporary California style.

With the company’s advance to Monterey, also known for its coastal climate, a new wine is born, just in time for summertime – the first addition to the classic offerings of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in decades. Learn more about La Cream wines, and the new 2012 Monterey Pinot Cris at www.lacrema.com  

San Francisco Waterfront Sets the Scene for Weekend Brunch at La Mar Cebicheria Peruana

By Emma Krasov, photography by Yuri Krasov

 

La Mar Cebichería Peruana is perhaps the best place outside Peru for pisco and cebiche, and the popular restaurant’s delicate causas are so cute, you might want to take them outside to watch ferries go by on a sunny morning!

 

Enviable loсation and a full bar, concocting mean cocktails brunch, dinner, or happy hour, do not slow down Chef Diego Oka’s assertive push for bold flavor combinations and excellence in their execution. 

 

 

Be it causa pulpo olivo formed out of yellow whipped potato and filled with octopus tartar and Peruvian black olives, or cebiche de hongos – a fishless variation on the classic, made of piopini, enoki, and oyster mushrooms – everything new that appears on the menu immediately becomes a popular demand staple.

 

With the accumulation of sunshine along the normally foggy San Francisco waterfront, seasonal weekend brunch at La Mar Cebichería Peruana becomes a coveted pastime for the city dwellers and the out-of-towners alike.

The entire dining area with a gorgeous view of the Bay and gliding sailboats fills out rather fast, and if you are lucky, you’ll get a table outside, right on a dockside pier patio, next to the water. 

 

Starting your brunch with cocktails is a no-brainer, and bacon-infused pisco as well as a slice of bacon with pickled onions in La Mar’s own take on Bloody Mary proves to be very refreshing.

 

Coles de bruselas moves humble Brussel sprouts, cauliflower, and kale into a new and exciting food category with the help of garlic and huacatay (Andean mint), jalapeno goat cheese, and aji panca bacon candy.

 

Montadito burrata is not like any other burrata you favor for brunch these days. Fresh creamy goodness of popular soft cheese is served atop grilled slices of artisan Acme bread, and topped with mushrooms, sautéed in pisco and aji amarillo, and a quail egg.

 

For a heartier fare, there is a remarkably medium-grilled salmon fillet garnished with red chard, fried choclo (large-carnel Peruvian corn) and yellow and purple potatoes sautéed with butter and garlic. The fish and crowned with a poached egg in an aji amarillo hollandaise, sprinkled with Hawaiian black salt.

 

You can’t also go wrong with extremely satisfying chaufa power – a fusion of beef Milanesa on top of wok-fried rice with Chinese sausage, egg noodles, scallions, bell peppers, and chifa seasonings, with a side of fried banana, sunny side up egg, pickled salad and aji panca sauce.

There are too many wonderful choices on the La Mar’s brunch menu presenting the abundance of Peruvian cuisine with Spanish, Japanese, Italian, and other influences to name them all. 

 

Since there is no brunch concept in Peru, Chef Oka simply brings up all the best from all the traditional meals of the day to create an unforgettable San-Francisco/Peruvian brunch experience.   

A native Peruvian of Japanese descent, Chef Oka was part of the team that opened the first La Mar Cebichería in Lima, and then in Mexico City and Bogotá. The La Mar concept, originally conceived by internationally renowned chef/owner Gastón Acurio, introduces authentic Peruvian flavors to the world in mostly small plate format that encourages family-style sharing.

It also includes vegetarian and gluten free dishes.

 

No matter how much you ate at brunch, La Mar’s finger-licking desserts prepared by Pastry Chef Astrid Gutsche are not to be missed. Lucuma panna cotta made of the Andean tropical fruit with a taste of butterscotch is served with chocolate garnish, queso helado, and fresh berries.

La Mar Cebichería Peruana is located on Pier 1½, on the Embarcadero in San Francisco, California. The restaurant is open daily, serving lunch or brunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., dinner Sunday through Wednesday from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. and Thursday to Saturday 5:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

For more information or reservations, call 415-397-8880 or visit www.lamarsf.com

Alcatraz Cruises Land at Hyatt Regency San Francisco to Give the Guests and City Dwellers a Taste of "Life on the Rock"

Photography by Emma Krasov 

Alcatraz Cruises, the official concessionaire to the National Park Service, providing ticketing and transportation services to Alcatraz Island, has confirmed its partnership with the Hyatt Regency San Francisco to present “Alcatraz: Life on the Rock,” a museum quality exhibit about the many eras and stories of Alcatraz Island.

 

The exhibit showcases Alcatraz Island’s fascinating history and infamous inmates.

“Alcatraz: Life on the Rock” is a joint collaboration between the National Park Service and Alcatraz Cruises. 

 

Scheduled to make its first San Francisco appearance, “Alcatraz: Life on the Rock” will be featured throughout Hyatt Regency San Francisco’s Guinness Book of World Records “largest atrium lobby” from May 1 through October 25. 

 

Hyatt Regency San Francisco is located at 5 Embarcadero Center, San Francisco, CA 94111. Call for reservations: 415-788-1234 or visit:www.sanfranciscoregency.hyatt.com

What Makes Parallel 37 Unparalleled

By Emma Krasov, photography by Yuri Krasov

What places a restaurant a notch above others in San Francisco, where it seems there is a restaurant for every citizen and every tourist that ever feel like eating? Neighborhood joints, destination hideaways, cafes, bistros, supper clubs and watering holes for every taste and every palate abound in the food capital of the West.

And yet, there is always something that sets apart those places we remember, and tell our friends about, and take our out-of-towners to awe and wow them.

 

Opened a little more than a year ago, Parallel 37 in the Ritz-Carlton San Francisco is one of those places that cannot be forgotten or mixed up with anything else. This restaurant, named after the city’s geographic latitude, is designed to impress – both with its gorgeously understated ambience and with its sophisticatedly simple cuisine.

Establishing itself as a distinctive Northern California eatery, the facility features a back wall light box filled with images of California live oaks. Minimally finished cedar wood slabs cover the entry ceiling. Solid white oak, walnut, and myrtle wood table tops in the dining room and lounge area along with leather seating and geometrical flooring provide an oasis of relaxed contemporary sensibility within the Beaux-Arts hotel building – a beloved Nob Hill landmark.

 

Of course, it’s food and wine that puts Parallel 37 firmly on the city map. Chef Michael Rotondo creates a highly original and fun menu influenced by the European, Asian, and African cuisines from San Francisco’s parallel 37 neighbors, like Spain, Turkey, Japan, China, the Mediterranean, and Middle Asia. The use of market-fresh, locally and sustainably harvested seasonal ingredients makes every dish shine, especially when paired with exquisite wines from a comprehensive list of international classics and intriguing small producers.

The chef’s eight-course tasting menu is a true masterpiece, however, since it changes with the season and the market, on different days diners would have different (yet equally enticing) experiences.

 

Mine was definitely something to write home about. A glass of whirling bubbles in Bruno Paillard Brut Premier Cuvee was followed by an amuse bouche of chicken liver mousse – silky and airy, but with a distinct chicken liver flavor tamed by a crispy crunchy combo of radicchio, Savoy cabbage, shaved bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, and tiny croutons.

 

The first course of the freshest hamachi sashimi was garnished with juicy sliced kumquats, wilted spinach, baby beet greens, clam-and-kumquat foam, and the thinnest rings of fried crisped onions.

 

2011 Laurenz und Sophie Gruner Veltliner Singing from Kamptal (Austria) was really singing along with sweet kumamoto oysters amazingly enhanced by horseradish, celery, onion, parsley, dill, and red beet jus.

 

2009 Meulenhoff Riesling Kabinett Erdener Treppchen from Mosel (Germany) made a good match for Asian cuisine inspired chicken foot, de-boned and crisped, and served in a steamed bun with kimchi, pickles, micro greens, and Cara-Cara orange slices.   

 

2011 Lolo Albarinio Rias Baixas from Galicia, Spain, the grape that grows by the sea, was very fitting for the tender chewy octopus, served with pickled elephant garlic, radish, caper berries, and a work of pure genius – sunchoke ice-cream topped with rice puffs.

 

2011 Kistler Chardonnay Les Noisetiers from Sonoma Coast underscored the sweetness of locally caught wild black cod with stinging nettle flat bread, and parmesan and yuzu foam. This modest fish never looked so noble. Golden and shiny with specs of red pepper sauce, it tasted even better than it looked – easily flaking and melting in your mouth.

For the meat courses, bold and powerful reds came to the stage following those refreshing mineral whites.

2007 Highflyer Syrah Vivio Vineyard from Bennett Valley, Sonoma County, accompanied a colorful plate of lamb three ways with meat cuts of shoulder, leg, and belly, garnished with crispy bamboo rice, housemade chorizo, pickled shallots and fennel, and fresh mint.

 

2008 Falcor Sangiovese from Napa Valley had just the right smoothness for Asian spice-marinated medium-rare flank steak with shaved coconut and burdock, cilantro, and crispy rice.

 

A pre-dessert palate cleanser was beautiful to behold and consisted of light-green cucumber sorbet with elderflower gelee and mint-infused olive oil.

 

And then it was time for dessert. A recently-hired pastry chef Andrea Correa created a scrumptious pistachio and green tea semifreddo with tart-and-sweet strawberry broth and rhubarb compote. Her wonderfully delicious muted-green and bright-red creation was nicely paired with the golden nectar of heavenly 2011 Moscato d’Asti.

White chocolate passion fruit truffles and a cup of bloomy espresso rounded up a very memorable meal.

 

Parallel 37 is located at The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco, 600 Stockton Street, San-Francisco, California 94108. The restaurant is open daily for lunch and dinner and on Sunday for brunch. To book a reservation, please call 415-773-6168. Additional information at www.parallel37sf.com.